FORT PIERCE, Fla.- Marcus Niblack scored a career high 31 points, but it wasn't enough as the #10 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers came up on the short end of a key Southern Conference matchup 83-78 to #2 Indian River Monday night in Fort Pierce.  

 

The Bucs got off to a scalding hot start as Rhyjon Blackwell nailed a three on the first possession of the game and FSW led it 11-4 just four minutes in.  Slowly the Pioneers began their comeback cutting the Bucs lead in half at 20-16 by the first media timeout and then leveling the score at 26 midway through the period. After trading the lead back and forth for the next few minutes, the Bucs looked to have grabbed the momentum once again, going on a 7-0 run, capped by a three point play by Bryant Selebangue, to put FSW up 36-29 with 5:00 to go in the half.  They couldn't sustain the momentum into the break though as Indian River roared back and tied the score at 41 as the teams headed to the locker room at the half. 

 

It remained a nip and tuck battle early in the second as a reserve lay in from Kai Cleary gave the Bucs the lead back at 51-49 five minutes into the period.  But once again, the Bucs couldn't string together enough stops to create any distance between themselves and the Pioneers and three minutes later, Indian River had the lead back at 58-54. The Bucs went ice cold from there, watching as the Pioneers started to pull away, going up by as many as 14 with 8:00 to go.  Just when it looked like FSW was out of it, the Bucs made one last push, getting four straight from Cleary to make it a single digit game and then a tough two from Niblack with under 3:00 remaining to get them to within five. The Bucs got a bucket and a stop to make it a two point game with under 30 seconds remaining, but they threw the ball away on an entry pass into the post and had to play the free throw game from there, with Indian River coming up clutch at the stripe to eventually close them out 83-78 for the win.  

 

Niblack continued his strong play of late with a career high 31 for FSW.  Cleary finished with 11 and Selebangue had 10.  No other statistics were available at the time of press.  

 

The Bucs lose for just the second time in their past 16 contests, both coming to Indian River and both coming by 83-78 finals.  FSW falls to 19-4 overall and 6-2 in Southern Conference play while the Pioneers improve to 23-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in conference play with four games remaining.  

 

The Bucs will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when they return home to Suncoast Credit Union Arena to host the Hillsborough Hawks in a noon tip off in Fort Myers.